


After The Lights Go Out

by Lady_Madara



Category: Supernatural
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-07 02:36:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20302048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Madara/pseuds/Lady_Madara
Summary: Immediately follows S14 finale...Billie continues. "Now, you know Death would never offer you something for free, but I'm willing to extend you a fair exchange. Something you want for something I want.""Get to the point already!" Says Cass, gruffly.Billie glares curtly at Cass. "Don't. Rush. Me." A wicked grin spreads over her face as she looks back at the Winchesters....Adventure. No pairings. OC





	1. Chapter 1

**I.**

God, Chuck, "the author", whatever the fuck he wants to be called, disappears leaving the boys in darkness to fight off the rising dead. Cass wields his angel blade as Sam and Dean grip tightly onto rusted iron bars. Blood from Sam's shoulder wound flows freely down his arm and Dean worries how much the injury will hinder his brother's ability to fight. The angry mob of undead descend upon the three when a piercing whistle cuts through the air. 

Pushed by an invisible wave, bodies fly in almost every direction away from the guys. 

"Do you three wanna get out of here, or what?" A woman's voice calls to them. 

The two hunters and their angel make a mad dash for the impala where the stranger waits for them. She climbs into the backseat with Cass, who can't help blurting out, "You are DISGUSTING! What are you?!?"

"Thanks." She replies flatly. 

"That's a pretty rude thing to say to someone who just saved our asses!" Dean hammers the gas and peels out of the cemetery.

"I apologize." But Cass's face still conveys disgust. 

"Okay, let's start over. Who are you?" Sam asks while wincing in pain trying to look over his shoulder at her.

"Name's Eddie," she answers, her voice hinting at a southern drawl. "And I understand y'all are the legendary Winchesters. But which is whom?"

"I'm Sam and this is Dean." Sam grimaces again, blood oozing from his bullet hole. 

"Here, let me get that for you." Eddie touches Sam's shoulder, healing it with an angelic beam of light.

"You are not an angel of the Lord, so how did you do that?" Cass asks in disbelief. 

"You're right. I'm not. But I'm willing to bet you are." Eddie struggles to hold back an eye roll. "Let me guess, you're the Winchester's famous heavenly pet, Castiel?"

"I am, but you're still avoiding answering WHAT you are." Cass says pointedly. 

"That's a pretty complicated question. Let's get to a safe haven first, then I'll explain." Eddie replies.

"Explain why you know our names!?" Cass sneers, dissatisfied with her responses. 

"Are you serious right now?" Eddie can't believe he's acting like this. "Everybody who's anybody in the supe world knows exactly who y'all are. I'm pretty sure the world is ending right now, and lo 'n behold, there y'all were right in the thick of it!"

"Fair enough." Sam rolls his shoulder forward and back, satisfied with her work. 

"Will you tell us why you helped us back there?" Dean glances at her in the rear-view mirror. 

"Ah. I know y'all were the last folks in my Papa’s presence and I'm looking for answers." Eddie says matter of factly.

"And who is your Papa?" Cass's brow furrows. Her 'Papa' could be a monster they've killed, so his misgivings for her run deep. 

"His name was Gabriel." Eddie glances down, sadly. "I feel his existence is gone... I can sense you were exposed to his grace, so that's why I sought y’all out."

"There is no way you are a nephilim!" Cass is shocked. "You are the most vile looking beast I've ever seen!" He spits out.

"Oh, please don't spare my feelings!" Eddie snaps back with heavy sarcasm. "Look, firstly I'm not a nephilim and secondly I told you it's complicated. Let's just hurry up and get to a safe zone, okay?" She crosses her arms over her chest and fixes her gaze out the window, clearly annoyed.

“Fine by me.” Dean says, punching the gas, urging the impala to roar down the highway. 

  
  


Back at the bunker, Dean parks the impala in the garage. The Winchesters lead the way up the stairs followed by Eddie while Cass brings up the rear, still wary of their latest acquaintance.

Up in the war room, Sam turns to Eddie. “Do you mind waiting here for us while we talk a moment?”

“No problem.” Eddie answers.

“Here, please have a seat.” Sam pulls out a chair for their guest.

“Thanks.” The old wood creaks as Eddie pulls the chair closer to the table. She idles her time examining the giant backlit map as the men step away.

Heading into the observatory, the trio keep Eddie in sight as they speak in hushed voices.

“Holy mother of busty asian beauties, Batman!” Dean lets out a small whistle, while rubbing the back of his head. 

“Do not let her vessel confuse you!” Cass sternly warns. “She has three heads in her true form!” 

“Hey, the one I can see looks great! But, I digress. So our old pal Chuck decided to pull the plug on this world and throw us into the apocalypse, hell is literally breaking loose, and we have very few friends left, does that sound about right to you two?” Dean asks.

“I would say that about sums it up.” Cass says, casting a steely glance to their company.

Sam scratches his jaw before gesturing at her. “Well, this girl, Eddie, whatever she is seems to be on our side at least.”

“I still don’t trust her.” Cass refuses to let her out of his sight.

“I don’t either per se, but she did save our bacon. And she said Gabriel is her ‘Papa’ so she’s probably friendly.” Dean shrugs.

“And you said she’s not a nephilim?” Sam asks Cass.

“She most certainly is not! In fact, I’m not sure what she even is! I feel a strange mixture of auras from her and it’s very disconcerting.” Cass looks troubled.

“Well, maybe now’s the time to ask her.” Sam says leaving the observatory, Dean and Cass follow.

Eddie sits at the war room table, her fingers tracing the initials the Winchesters carved into the wood. Without looking up at the guys, she speaks aloud.

“Papa was here. There are very faint traces of him... This room was the last place he was at on this earth before he ceased to exist.”

Sam takes a seat to be less intimidating. “That’s right. In here we opened up a portal to another dimension and Gabriel joined our fight. There he sacrificed himself so we could get away.”

“But Papa was an archangel! The only thing that could have killed him was another archangel or God himself!” Eddie is exasperated.

Dean sits now too. “He was killed by another archangel. The parallel world we went to had its own Michael, and that’s who murdered Gabriel.” 

A tear falls from Eddie’s face and begins burning a hole through the table. She wipes it with her hand then quickly brushes away another tear rolling down her cheek. 

“Now tell us what you are, hideous monster! And how do you know about archangels!?” Cass demands. He glares at her with his arms folded over his chest, refusing to sit.

“Hey, I’m ugly but I’m not stupid, okay? Of course I know about archangels, Papa was one!” Eddie cocks her head to the side and glares right back at him.

Comfortingly, Sam says to her, “You’re not ugly.” Turning his head to Cass, Sam says sternly, “Stop it, that’s enough.” Returning his attention to Eddie, he softens his voice again. “We're just surprised you know what he really was because we understood he spent a really long time disguised as Loki. Would you mind sharing your story with us?”

“I don’t mind." Rubbing one more tear off her face, Eddie begins. "A long time ago, Papa had a father and three brothers. Papa’s two oldest brothers had a fight and one was kicked out of the house. Papa couldn’t stand the fighting, so he left and decided to check out Earth."

"Yes, yes, we already know all that! Get to what we don't know!" Cass snaps impatiently. 

Eddie gives Cass a dirty look before resuming. "During his journeys, he found a human woman, and he fell deeply in love with her. It didn’t take long before there was a little baby brewing inside of her.”

“You said you weren’t a nephilim!!” Cass interjects.

“Shh! Let her finish!” Sam says. “Sorry, please continue!”

Eddie sneers at Cass. “Papa could feel that little baby was powerful and eating away at her mother’s life force. Even with all his angelic grace, he found there was nothing he could do to prevent mother’s life from ebbing away. He would do anything to save her. So he decided to make a deal.” 

“No! He didn’t!” Dean says incredulously, understanding where this story is already headed.

“Yes, he did.” Eddie nods. “At that point, Uncle Luci had already been locked up, so Papa turned to uncle’s first creation; the original crossroads demon.” 

“Lillith.” Cass growls. He never imagined he’d ever have to think about her again, much less say her name.

“Lillith said she could possess mother’s body so that she would survive childbirth but the cost of that service was my powers. Papa happily agreed. He remembered what had happened to another nephilim, the Queen of Sheba. He figured stripping me of my powers would keep me off heaven's nephilim kill list. What he didn’t anticipate was that by being born of a mother possessed by Lillith, I would become a cambion.”

“Half demon, half human offspring… but you are half archangel. Unless I’m doing my math wrong, three halves don't make a whole.” Dean says puzzled, holding up three fingers.

“That’s correct.” Eddie continues. “Power literally seeped from my body the moment I was born. Lillith saved my mother both from the childbirth and my oozing power burning through everything, but it left the demon weakened. In retribution, the queen of hell was more than happy to take away my abilities, both nephilim and cambion.” 

“So you’re nephion? Or is it a cambilim?” Sam toys with the portmanteau.

“She’s an abomination! No wonder she decided to take this attractive vessel! Too bad I can still see that one of her heads looks like an eagle’s except when the beak opens, tentacles covered in throbbing suction cups pour out!” Cass stabs a hand in Eddie's direction.

If looks could kill, Cass would be back in The Empty right now. But Eddie moves on to answer Sam’s query. “Neither name sounds that appealing. And this isn’t a vessel. It’s the human body I was born with. Papa always says… well, said I look just like Mama.”

“If you look just like your mom, no wonder Gabriel couldn’t keep his hands off her!” Dean raises his eyebrows. 

"I think that's a compliment, so thanks?" Eddie looks nonplussed. "Anyways, we got to have a long happy life with Mama but eventually time took her from us, then all we had left was time. Papa and I went on our own adventures, but we still made sure to visit each other on occasion." 

Eddie opens up a large, heavy, silver locket she has been wearing and shares it for the brothers to view.

"A black and white picture of you and Gabe wearing old timey costumes?" Dean says, unimpressed. 

Sam surveys the image. Eddie and Gabriel stand together wearing mid-nineteenth century attire, a caption at the bottom reads 

_ Grand International Exhibition  _

_ London _

_ May 1851 _

"Dean, I don't think those are costumes. And I'm pretty sure this is a tintype, not a photograph." Sam says returning the trinket to Eddie.

Dean mutters sarcastically. " _ It's a tintype not a picture.  _ Oh excuse me! My mistake!  _ Nerds. _ " He finishes with a huff.

"You are correct on both accounts, Sam." Eddie smiles, ignoring Dean and taking back the locket. "I wish I had a photo of Mama but she was long gone before even oil painted portraits were a thing." 

"Wait, if you're this mega powerful human-angel-demon hybrid thing, why didn't you just go back in time to visit your mom? Even angels can time travel." Dean asks, scratching his head. 

"Now that I've lived for so many eons, I'm not even sure when to go back in time to visit her. That and Lillith took my powers at birth, remember?" Eddie answers with a hint of sass. 

"Your story isn't adding up. You said Lillith took your power ages ago but you clearly healed Sam back there." Cass's skepticism grows as he throws doubt over Eddie's story.

"I didn't have any supernatural abilities aside from my longevity until ten years ago. I was living in Samoa when I was suddenly flooded by intense power. I was so overwhelmed I felt I was going to burst. I thought to myself, if I'm going to explode maybe I can get myself deep in the ocean where I won't hurt anyone. But I made a grave mistake. When I erupted, I caused an earthquake. That earthquake triggered a lethal tidal wave…" Her voice trails, filling with sorrow. "I killed over one hundred people." Eddie is remorseful, recounting the tale.

"A-ha! I knew we couldn't trust her! She just admitted to being a murderer!" Cass shouts, pointing a finger at Eddie.

"Cool it, Cass. Can't you see she feels terrible about it?" Sam says before redirecting to Eddie again. "Now that you mention it, I remember reading about the 2009 tsunami that hit Samoa. So that was you?"

"Yes, unfortunately." Eddie says, eyes fixed on the ground, still unable to bear her shame. Her voice trembles now as she continues her story. "Papa came and found me after the incident. He said Lillith had been killed which explained why my powers came rushing back to me." Eddie glances at Cass, hoping to have assuaged his doubts. His face is stoic, but she carries on. "Papa said with the apocalypse starting, hopefully heaven will be too busy to notice a nephilim on their radar. He gave me some advice on how to manage my new abilities before leaving to handle the apocalypse. Then he disappeared. I could sense he was still alive, but I couldn't find him anywhere."

Satisfied with her story for now, Cass fills in more of the gaps for Eddie. 

"A prince of hell named Asmodeus, captured Gabriel sometime during the apocalypse. Gabriel was so deeply hidden, even heaven thought he was dead. But in reality, Asmodeus spent years drinking Gabriel's grace to gain power."

Eddie's expression changes from sadness and longing to instant rage. Her hands ball into fists and her knuckles crack. "And where is this Asmodeus now? I'll kill him!"

"Easy there, tiger!" Dean chimes in. "Gabriel already beat you to it. But destroying Asmodeus used up a lot of his power which left him weak against the alternate world Michael."

"Oh." Eddie relaxes and leans back into her seat. "So that's why Papa was defeated. He wasn't at full strength." She glances around the table at the three men. "He must have cared about y'all tremendously to have gone into a fight he knew he couldn't win."

"His time with Asmodeus changed him. He realized he couldn't run forever so he finally decided to stand and fight." Sam says.

Eddie clutches the locket at her chest and looks pensive but before she can share her thoughts, the lights flicker, then dim.

Sam and Dean jump to their feet while Cass reaches in his coat for an angel blade. A tall, beautiful, woman dressed all in black suddenly appears before them.


	2. II.

**II.**

"Billie, what are doing here?" Dean furrows his brow. While he considers her an ally, he regards her very cautiously. She would never idly appear before them. 

"I come bearing a gift, but he comes with a hefty price tag." Billie answers, playfully.

"Well, that would make it a purchase and not a gift." Eddie interjects, rising to her feet. 

Stepping towards Eddie, Billie speaks coolly. "Child, I will you have you respect that I am in fact THE rider upon a pale horse, and my name is DEATH." 

Billie circles Eddie, eyeing her curiously. Eddie reacts by raising an eyebrow while crossing her arms and shifting her weight to one hip.

Billie speaks again. "My, what a peculiar creature you are! I would very much like to reap you someday, but for now I believe you can help fulfill the payment on this gift I am bestowing upon the Winchesters."

Returning her focus to the men in the room, Billie continues. "Now, you know Death would never offer you something for free, but I'm willing to extend you a fair exchange. Something you want for something I want."

"Get to the point already!" Says Cass, gruffly. 

Billie glares curtly at Cass. "Don't. Rush. Me.” 

A wicked grin spreads over her face as she looks back at the Winchesters. “I believe you boys remember once upon a time when I told you that I wanted to reap God? Well here’s your chance to make that a reality. As an incentive to help me achieve that goal, I brought you a friend from The Empty.” 

Moving aside, Billie gestures someone to step forward.

“Jack!” Dean says, astonished. 

Tension fills the air as the men hesitate to extend a warm greeting. They’re torn between rushing to hug the boy they’ve loved and raised versus the animosity created by all the heinous acts the soulless Jack committed. 

Tears roll down Jack’s face and Sam breaks. He is the first to reach out and embrace the kid. Cass follows suit, but Dean hangs back.

Billie doesn’t miss the angst written all over Dean’s face, so she adds, “And I’ve even done you something a little better than just bringing him back. I reset the foundation for his soul but he’ll still need time to regrow it. You all will have to nurture it so it doesn’t grow dark.”

Wiping the tears away, Jack addresses Billie. “Thank you so much!”

“Oh, don’t thank me just yet.” Billie says. “I only brought you back because I believe you can aid the Winchesters in bagging  _ the _ God for me.” 

Jack tilts his head trying to understand but Billie ignores him. “A nephilim is the one creature who has the potential to kill him but only if your family can foster you to your full power." 

Turning her head back to Eddie, whom everybody had forgotten, Billie smirks. "How curious that the Winchesters would happen to attract the only other sort-of nephilim on this planet."

Billie steps close to Eddie again, then takes deep breaths as if she's trying to capture Eddie's scent. "Is that hints of archangel I'm picking up off you?"

Eddie gets an attitude. "What business is it of yours?" 

Billie laughs. "Oh honey, I'm not just subscribed to this story! I'm an editor! Hmm, so another archangel nephilim? At least partly anyways. And… a conflicting demonic aura? That part of you I can't quite place a finger on… You're part cambion too? Oh my, you are quite the mutt!"

"Gee, thanks for noticing!" Eddie says sarcastically. "Since you're big bad death and all, aren't you supposed to be busy?"

"Never too busy to help some friends." Billie's voice sounds dangerous and her eyes flash darkly. "As I recall, cambion are most powerful when Lucifer walks the earth. Shall I fetch him from The Empty as well to give you a power up?"

The men all sound angry as they loudly contest this idea but Eddie's face lights up with fear. 

“NO! No! I don’t need that!” Eddie cries. “It’s hard enough to keep everything in check when he’s not around. I was glad when somebody finally put him away, because I finally caught a break!”

“Hmm.” Billie sounds amused. “Maybe later then.” Billie turns to leave but Eddie stops her.

“Wait! You said Lucifer is in The Empty? Is that where my Papa is?” Eddie asks.

“I thought you said your archangel essence wasn’t any of my business?” Billie replies in a smart alecy tone with a raised brow.

“I’m sorry about that. But if you can drag Lucifer back, then surely you can bring back the archangel Gabriel?” Eddie looks hopeful.

“Ahh, that makes sense! Michael and Raphael were always far too righteous to even fathom risking anything that could result in a nephilim. But Gabriel was much more wily than his brothers. Alright then, young one. I could grant your request, IF.” Billie stops impishly short.

“If what! WHAT! I’ll pay whatever you want!!” Eddie pleads, reaching out to death before stopping reverently short.

“I know you have no allegiance to these four.” Billie gestures at Sam, Dean, Jack, and Cass. “So I have to make you invested in my cause.” 

Billie smiles watching the anxiety grow on Eddie’s face. “IF you help me bring down God, I will give you back your father.” She finally finishes.

“Give me back Papa, and I’ll help you!” Eddie barters.

“No no, you work first, then you get paid.” Billie wags a finger.

“Fine!” Eddie pouts, folding her arms.

“Wonderful. I’ll be checking in on you all soon.” Billie says before disappearing. 

The lights come back up and Dean finally moves to briefly hug Jack.

“Are you sure you’re really back, kid?” The eldest Winchester asks the boy.

“Yes! And I feel so awful about everything! About Mary, and about hiding from you, and everything I did to hurt everyone!” Jack starts sobbing and Dean pats his back still not ready to completely forgive him. 

Sam is more empathetic, handing Jack a handkerchief. “It’s okay. We’ll move forward from here. Together.” Sam reassures Jack, but stares at Dean to make sure he’s on board.

“Yea, together.” Dean adds, giving Jack a couple more pats before stepping back.


	3. III.

**III.**

"Wait. Does 'together' include me as well?" Eddie asks.

"NO!" Cass shouts.

"Yes, if you want your Papa back. At least according to Billie anyways." Sam says.

"Awesome." Eddie sounds less than enthused. "So how do we kill God?"

The blaring of horns permeates the air, stopping anyone from answering. The sound isn't just in the bunker, it's heard in every corner of the earth. While everyone covers their ears in a futile attempt to block the noise, the ground begins to tremble.

"What is this?!" Jack cries out, fearfully.

"It's the start of the apocalypse!" Cass yells over the din. "The angels of heaven are signaling the beginning of the end times by blowing their trumpets!"

Then just as suddenly as the commotion started, it ceases. The earth stops rumbling, but the light fixtures still sway in the wake. Everyone lowers their hands from their ears as they regain their bearings.

"First the dead will rise. Next there will be earthquakes. Then there will be floods and plague." Cass says ominously.

"So you're saying the zombies and quakes aren't just here?" Dean points at the ground for emphasis.

"Unfortunately, not." Cass answers.

"Well, there's not much we can do about the quakes," Sam sighs, "but before we can focus on how to take out Chuck, I think we need to prioritize saving people from the undead."

"And to stop the floods and plague." Jack adds helpfully.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Dean says, heading towards the weapons cage.

"Wait." Eddie stops him. "Not to be mean or nothing, but y'all look like crap."

"Thanks." Dean quips with a deflated expression.

"I'm just trying to say, y'all are beat to hell, you've got an angel with busted wings, and ain't a one of ya even close to peak fightin form. But you're gonna try to run out there and take on the apocalypse?" Eddie says skeptically.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but we don't exactly have time to heal up." Dean says dryly.

"And how do you know about my wings?" Cass asks aggressively.

"Same way you know about my three heads; I can see them plain as day!" Eddie rolls her eyes then speaks reluctantly. "Look, I'm not much of a fighter, but I will help y'all out as best I can." She turns toward Cass. "Let me start with you."

Stepping towards him, Eddie swats at the open air above Cass' shoulder. Dean and Sam are confused by what she's doing until Eddie latches onto something invisible and Cass is suddenly jerked forward onto his knees.

"OW! They're still broken, remember!?" Cass barks.

"Calm down, ya big turkey! It won't be broken for much longer if you just hold still and let me fix you!!" Eddie hisses back at him.

While invisible to Sam and Dean's eyes, Jack watches as Eddie snaps one of Cass' wings into place. The loud cracking noise is heard by everyone, and Cass yelps in pain. This triggers a response in Jack, and his eyes glow gold before he blasts Eddie with waves of telekinetic force.

"DON'T HURT MY DAD!!!" Jack screams at her.

Eddie is forced to drop Cass's wing but she is able to withstand Jack's barrage by planting her feet and throwing her arms in front of her head defensively. Once he's done screaming, Eddie pushes back against Jack, knocking him into a nearby chair.

"Calm down, training pants!" Eddie yells at him.

"Hey… this actually does feel better." Cass sounds surprised as he slowly flaps the wing Eddie was just holding.

Sam and Dean still can't see the wings, but the shadows of Cass' feathered appendages are visible against the wall. The Winchester men notice the improvement on the side Eddie was just working.

Eddie tucks away a stray tress of her hair that had fallen out of place during Jack's assault.

"You know, I bet if you used that power to help your angel instead of throwing temper tantrums, this would have been fixed already!" Eddie says with her hands on her hips.

Jack already shifted from anger to amazement when he recognized Eddie was helping, not hurting Cass. But now he switches to curiosity.

"You mean, I can help him?" Jack asks, face full of hopefulness.

“Of course you can!” Eddie juts her head in a movement that expresses “duh!”

“But it’s kinda like medicine; it’ll be good for him, but he ain’t gonna like it.” Eddie grabs Cass’ wing again. Looking over her shoulder, she says, “Name’s Jack, right? Here grab the other wing and I’ll show you.”

Jack approaches, and Cass turns his head to the boy. Placing his hands on Cass’s broken wing, Jack asks “Is this okay?”

“It’s fine. Thanks for not manhandling me.” Cass shoots a look at Eddie and receives another eyeroll in return. He continues, “Lets just get this over with.”

“Okay, first you gotta reset the bone. You can see where it’s broken, can’t you?” Eddie asks.

Jack stares at the wing, pondering for a moment. “Yes.”

“Good. Now put it back in place.” Eddie says.

There’s another loud crack and a second yelp from Cass.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Jack is distressed.

“It’s fine!” Cass reassures. “Just finish it.”

“Now this next part is tricky. We gotta re-grow angel feathers. It takes a lot more concentration than just popping bones back into place.” Eddie’s hands move along the shaft of the wing, stopping at a gap in the feathers. Angelic light shines from her fingers accompanied by a drilling noise has she slowly pulls a feather down into the empty space.

Cass scrunches up his face, then his pop open wide like he's being violated. Eddie ignores him.

Jack copies Eddie’s movement, however he is much faster at it. Finishing one wing, Jack moves to the other, asking Eddie to step away.

Shadows cast on the wall enable the Winchesters to follow Cass’ progress. Eddie approaches the men, small beads of sweat along her temple.

“How did you learn to do that?” Sam asks, impressed.

“Papa had me help him the last time I saw him. He had gotten into a small scuffle and needed a couple feathers replaced. I’ll admit, I was kinda winging it resetting the bone. Pun intended.” Eddie smirks.

“You were ‘winging it’?” Dean is incredulous.

“Hey, I like animals and I’ve been around a really long time. I’ve had the opportunity to fix many broken wings in my lifetime.” Eddie shrugs.

“Here, it’s your turn next anyways.” Eddie says, grabbing Dean’s arm. Before he can argue, she slaps the palm of her hand onto his forehead. His entire body glows for a moment until Eddie removes her hand.

“WOW!” Dean’s eyes light up in surprise. “I feel better than new! Totally energized, like I can take on the world!”

“Well, that’s what I'm trying to get you ready for!” Eddie wipes the sweat from her brow.

Jack finishes with Cass and now he steps up to Sam.

“Let me try to do you!” Jack says excitedly, clapping his hand to Sam’s forehead.

Sam glows brighter than Dean did but when Jack pulls his hand back, Eddie stifles a giggle. Sam’s hair is now tightly coiled like sheep’s wool, and the scent of singed hair lingers in the air.

“Oh, sorry Sam!” Jack pulls down both corners of his mouth and tucks his chin into his neck to make a face that says Whoopsie!

Eddie moves her hand from the smirk she was covering to the top of Sam's head to fix his hair. Turning her head to Jack, she says "I like your enthusiasm, kid. But you need to take some stank off your stroke. If you're not careful, you can pump a body too full of healing energy and make it explode."

Dean's eyes shoot up in surprise. "Yikes! Sounds like you're talking from experience."

"Oh yeah! Like a squirrel jumping into a transformer." Eddie makes a half grimace, whoopsie face of her own. "But that only happened a couple times with small animals back when I was first trying to figure out my power."

"Good to know!" Jack nods in acknowledgment.

"Hey, where'd Cass go?" Sam says, noticing their angel is missing.

The sound of fluttering wings announces Cass's arrival and he suddenly reappears before them.

"I just tested out my wings. They're stronger and faster than they were before. Thank you, Jack." Cass pointedly neglects to thank Eddie. She blinks at him.

Jack misses the antagonism between them. "That's great! It's a good thing Eddie was here to show me the way!" He says brightly.

"Er, yes. Thank you, Eddie." Cass grumbles before continuing. "It's utter chaos outside. Most people are barricading themselves indoors but there are some vigilantes trying to fight back. They're greatly underestimating the sheer amount of the undead and they’ll be quickly overwhelmed if we don’t help them.”

"Alright! Let's gear up and roll out!" Dean cracks his neck then rolls his shoulders with vigor.

"We won't all fit in the impala." Cass sneers at Eddie. No matter how cooperative she's been, he still doesn't like her.

"The bench seats will fit six in a pinch." Sam chimes in. He's not necessarily trying to come to Eddie's defense, but he is getting tired of Cass's attitude.

"And three of us have wings!" Jack adds innocently. He's not sure why Cass is ignoring that fact.

"Oh, I didn't want to assume those leathery mudflaps of yours could actually take flight." Cass says cuttingly to Eddie.

Before Eddie can say anything, Sam's had enough.  
"What is your problem, Cass? Hasn't she been helpful enough?"

"I don't know why you're all suddenly so trusting of her! We barely know this fiend!" Cass says frustrated.

"Look," Sam runs an exasperated hand through his hair and sighs. "I'm not saying she's our new best friend, but it's the end of the world and we could really use all hands on deck! At the very least, Eddie hasn't given us any reason to distrust her. At this point, it's worth the risk to invite her into the group."

"Whatever!" Cass mutters. "I'll text you the coordinates."

With the flap of wings, Cass vanishes. Then Dean's phone jingles with a text notification.

"Well, we got our location." Dean shakes his phone. "Are you two gonna ride with us or just zip over there like Cass did?"

"I'll ride to conserve my energy." Eddie says.

"Ooo, me too!" Says Jack, excitedly. "It'll give me time to ask you about your three heads!"

Sam makes a shocked face, worried Jack may have crossed a line. When Eddie laughs it off, Sam smiles, shaking his head, then follows Dean to load up the impala. Jack and Eddie come along to help. Prep is done quickly and the impala's suspension creaks under the weight of the extra weapons placed in her trunk.

Pulling away from the bunker, Dean tells everyone, "I hope you're all ready for the creep show."


End file.
